Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

Ward has never been up to it and with Elliot there has been a lot of huffing and puffing and chest thumping but with 4 returning starters this year we had a right to expect a better line and they are not. If there is no improvement he should go.

Ward has never been up to it and with Elliot there has been a lot of huffing and puffing and chest thumping but with 4 returning starters this year we had a right to expect a better line and they are not. If there is no improvement he should go.

Since Ward took over USC is 23-5 including the train wreck Thursday night. We will not be the same defense this year for a number of reasons & Ward has to take responsibility for that as does the Head Coach.

I'll ask you the same question as Latt2001 couldn't or wouldn't answer because he posted pure b.s. Look at where this defense ranked in 2012 & 2013 & show me the years where our offense had a higher rating than the defense. I'll make it even easier, you take the whole 10 yrs Spurrier has been here & compare those offenses to the two years Ward has been in charge.

Defense has carried this program for years & that was ok apparently. Now we have serious issues on the defense & the only solution is to apparently start firing coaches.

Here's a flashback, think back to the Auburn game years ago when we put a QB on the field who was so grossly unprepared that USC had to call 2 timeouts before the first damn snap. We got drubbed 48-7. Or the time our offense went up to Clemson & completed a boatload of passes to orange jerseys & let an interim coach screw Clemson out of millions.

Point is, these things happen to even the best of them. Knee jerk reactions to them are what can kill a program. Spurrier won't do anything to Ward because he far smarter than that. Ward has had very few horrible games so after you fire him, what happens when, not if, the replacement has one of those games?

I think all of our coaches should be under scrutiny after this game since we pretty much stunk across the board. Defenders couldn't tackle and didn't even look like they knew where they should be on the field. There was nothing special about our special teams (punting was good). Dylan had a decent game but made some dumb decisions and his technique was pretty bad...not getting his feet settled. The OL did awful. Our DL got owned.

Overall we just looked like a very, very, very poorly coached and ill-prepared team.

Could not agree more.

I watched one play through my binoculars because I wanted to get a close look at one particular highly touted freshman on the defense. It happened to be a really bad play for him. The kid looked lost and was owned/manhandled by the atm blocker, the tight end possibly. He looked like a junior varsity creampuff who showed up at the varsity field by mistake. As he was trotting off the field Botkin laid into him and I was really glad to see that. Maybe he should have laid into this kid a little more often during practice.

I have tried not to call out our freshmen by name because there was more than one who looked lost and overmatched.

I think Spurrier should've made some changes this past offseason to be honest with you, but then again with so many new players coming in I understand. If this season is under the bar then the offseason should be interesting.

I was expecting some firing and hiring myself but not sure why things were left alone.

i've always liked elliot, but facts are facts, and his line has the bodies, the size and the pedigree. but they still stink. i really don't understand this. but if it continues this season, he needs to go.

my biggest ax to grind is adams. last years dl performed much worse than those same players did the year before. they are supposed to get better, not worse. people have said time and time again, how clowney was doubled and triple teamed, so where was the extra production from the rest of the line? deke adams might can recruit, but he can't coach. that dline has no excuse to perform as badly as they did. none! adams needed to go after last year.

brown, i'm not so sure about him. there has been good and bad with him, but i think he is skilled, and he should be given some more time, as the good has outweighed the bad.

i actually think botkin has done a good job. our lb's started out terribly last year, and got better as the year went on. but this is something we should witness this season. so if they don't play better as time goes by, he should be hot as well.

i don't actually have any bad feelings for sands. he has done a pretty good job with the rb's, and they have had better ball security in recent years than in the past.

overall, there is a quick fixall. IF OUR COACHES STARTED HAVING PLAYERS HIT AT FULL SPEED, AND TACKLE AT FULL SPEED STARTING NOW, IT CAN BE FIXED. OUR PLAYERS LOOK SOFT, BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN TREATED SOFT. THEY NEED TO GET BACK TO THE HARDNOSE PART OF THIS SPORT, AND THEY WILL BE FINE.

__________________Tact is for those who are not witty enough for Sarcasm...

i've always liked elliot, but facts are facts, and his line has the bodies, the size and the pedigree. but they still stink. i really don't understand this. but if it continues this season, he needs to go.

my biggest ax to grind is adams. last years dl performed much worse than those same players did the year before. they are supposed to get better, not worse. people have said time and time again, how clowney was doubled and triple teamed, so where was the extra production from the rest of the line? deke adams might can recruit, but he can't coach. that dline has no excuse to perform as badly as they did. none! adams needed to go after last year.

brown, i'm not so sure about him. there has been good and bad with him, but i think he is skilled, and he should be given some more time, as the good has outweighed the bad.

i actually think botkin has done a good job. our lb's started out terribly last year, and got better as the year went on. but this is something we should witness this season. so if they don't play better as time goes by, he should be hot as well.

i don't actually have any bad feelings for sands. he has done a pretty good job with the rb's, and they have had better ball security in recent years than in the past.

overall, there is a quick fixall. IF OUR COACHES STARTED HAVING PLAYERS HIT AT FULL SPEED, AND TACKLE AT FULL SPEED STARTING NOW, IT CAN BE FIXED. OUR PLAYERS LOOK SOFT, BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN TREATED SOFT. THEY NEED TO GET BACK TO THE HARDNOSE PART OF THIS SPORT, AND THEY WILL BE FINE.

Damn quit screaming at your keyboard lol. But really when I read that we don't let them hit I wtf'd all over the damn place. Kids hit in middle school ball.

Our issues aren't asst coaches. September will be rough for USC. The coaches have a lot of teaching to do.
Put yourself in the same place as the asst coaches on defense. How much can you teach the new players in the month of September? Can you match the rapid improvement we saw the D make last year. They sucked VS UT and were among the best at season's end.

Firing defensive coaches will have no effect whatsoever on hitting in practice. ZERO. That order comes down from the head man. Ward made a comment that most every new coach USC hired on the defensive side is initially shocked & somewhat skeptical as to how they were suppose to get ready with very minimal hitting. His response was they (new coaches) had to trust the "system".

It's gonna be a tough year due to a dearth of talent at the DE position. We are too slow and too small at that position and it's gonna kill us this year. Next year, however, will be a different story.

Oh crap, did I just say, "wait 'till next year" ? :/

You did & you are likely correct. If the JUCO's are as advertised they will start from day 1 with little opposition. Not a sunshine pumper at all but next years defense will be light years ahead of this one talent wise.

Sawyer, Lewis, Wideman, Durant, possibly Jones .......very, very talented group. THe DB's should be much improved after a year's experience, spring & fall practice. Really feel good about that side of the ball going forward.